Just titles for now, to be expanded later:
Recommended Gerge R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series: I don't *do* multi-volume fantasy series. Until now, that is.
Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson: Not as good as The Years of Rice and Salt or some of his other brilliant novels, but definitely readable and timely (the suject is global warming and subsequent weather pattern changes) and intriguing enough that I'll pick up the next in the series
China Mielville's New Corbuzon series, The Scar is the standout fo me, just brilliantly written and stunningly original. Perdido Street Station was good, but a bit of a letdown after that initial rush (they were written in reverse order, so maybe he actually improved, or maybe it's me) the third book The Iron Council I've just started and am struggling with a little, we'll see.
Ian Banks' Culture novels. The best of modern Space Opera, with a large dose of Utopia made interesting by mainly viewing it through non-human eyes. People live forever, do whatever they want, have everything, and let benevolent AIs run everything. And it works. But it' still fascinating because we share the Universe with a whole host of other intelligences, alien and artificial and a plethora of variations on those themes. Intrigue, murder, espionage and Ascension. Great stuff.
JMS' Rising Stars: A take on the concept of a generation of superheroes, this time they're all from one town (a la Midwich Cuckoos) and one generation. Interesting, human and a good read.
Updated November 2005